What to Do?

Now that Obama has been elected, there is clearly a scramble on to identify what actions should taken and in what priority order. Commentators have warned about the negative consequences of over-reaching too fast. And yet, if action is taken early, then the timing of the next congressional election in 2010 will become a relevant obstacle to passage of legislation.

If I were advising Obama (wow! what a head trip that is!), my recommendations for the first six months would include the following:

• devise a stated plan to conclude our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. I realize that Afghanistan is quite different than Iraq and Iraq is by no means without potential collapse, but the need of setting our a plan for our withdrawal is important
• a stimulus plan that would address the needs of our infrastructure and energy requirements, even if it puts us further in debt
• universal health care (realizing that Obama never promoted “universal health care. I am hoping that Senator’s Kennedy’s work underway will result in legislation that can be acted upon within six months (before his death)
• a set of regulations dealing the financial industry that will make matters more transparent and ensure that leverage will be appropriately capitalized.

As Maureen Dowd wrote today,

Obama may be in over his head. Or he may be heading for his own monument one day

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